


Divided Flower of Lost Innocence

by FlorarenaKitasatina



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Did You Just Punch Out The Yama?, Drama, Fairy Abuse, Grimdark, Oh god, Outside Context Problem, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Zen Moment, from bad to worse, why
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-01 05:39:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16278755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlorarenaKitasatina/pseuds/FlorarenaKitasatina
Summary: Shiki Eiki, revered Yama of Paradise, had never once expected to run into any issues regarding her Cleansed Crystal Mirror. None whatsoever. So when a strange man confronts her, seemingly overriding its power, she finds herself in over her head regarding how to deal with the problem.All this, during a time of peace no less.Now, normally, she'd ask for a certain shrine maiden's help in the matter, but that's not the only trick the stranger is packing—around him, she finds herself grounded. Worse, he has no spell cards, so a danmaku duel's out of the question. Confounded, and concerned as she cannot get a single read on the man, she experiences a moment of uncertainty. But in Gensokyo, not everything is as it seems. And with its newest stranger, things may be worse than just at first glance—nor as simple to deal with as the standard incident. As she works to uncover the man's motives, life, and other necessary details, she may just find herself wishing she hadn't encountered him at all...





	1. I- A Day Without Lectures

**Author's Note:**

> Another collaboration, with a user named Redleaf, a person I befriended on the Yukkuricraft Minecraft server. This idea, start to finish, came to me as I woke up a few days ago and would not go away until I started on it.
> 
> [And this is the cover art I did for this story.](https://pre00.deviantart.net/ccae/th/pre/i/2018/287/a/2/divided_flower_of_lost_innocence_by_florarena_kitasatina-dcpgksc.png)  
>  

It was quite rare for Shiki Eiki, Yamaxanadu of Gensokyo and Arbiter of the Dead, to come up onto Gensokyo's surface outside of an incident-in-the-making. _Before_ any time an incident-in-the-making could start, for that matter. For _any_ reason that wasn't a natural disaster, an incident-in-the-making or some such event like that, unless one went the extra mile of assuming she came out to warn somebody of their sins.

Rarer still was it, for her at any rate, to _not_ be in the process of lecturing anybody's ears off about said sins whilst walking the surface of Gensokyo during such a time of relative peace. 

There was, however, good reason for that—she'd been walking the path leading up to the Youkai Mountain on a quiet evening when an unexpected mess unfolded before her: in order, she ran into a very strange man who rushed towards her from the surrounding forest, as tall as Kourindou's shopkeeper. The man wasn't one whom she could recall ever having been to Gensokyo before, although she could easily say the same about a lot of outsiders who came and went. Wordlessly, she pulled out her Cleansed Crystal Mirror to get a read on him. After that, she sent his reflection after him, and he was currently in the process of fighting that reflection.

Or rather, had been, for the past hour now. He and his reflection were brutal and imposing in mannerisms and tactics, favoring ducking and lunging at uncomfortably close quarters—which, she noted, seemed more right up Meiling's alley, or perhaps that of a powerless human. Both had short black hair and wild, unusually _black_ eyes that seemed more focused on _her_ than each other.

In a strange way, it seemed he and his reflection had come to an unspoken agreement of some sort—quite rare, such a phenomenon was. They didn't mince or exchange words either, instead fighting in almost total silence. Their movements were fluid and grotesque, bending in ways no _normal_ person or youkai should have been able to—arms cricked and cracked in all manner of directions, the legs were favoring the ankles most of all, and yet neither man seemed to lose his balance. Neither fired any bullets, either—they were just content to throw punches and kicks like party favors, as though they didn't really understand the concept of danmaku. Both carried identical satchels, brown and dull and clinking with glass—supplies, she'd initially guessed.

Shiki Eiki looked at her Cleansed Crystal Mirror, the barest sliver of worry worming its way onto her otherwise passive expression. The reflective glass was so black, she found herself staring into an abyss—no people, no past, no memories for her to scry. 

More importantly, no sins for her to judge. Just an endless expanse of pitch, corporeal darkness so thick it may pry itself from her instrument of judgement to eat her alive if it were a force of its own will.

Who was this man? How did he get here? Was he always here, or was he an outsider? Had he, somehow, circumvented her power? Had he, deliberately, erased himself on some level so she wouldn't be able _to_ discern who he was? That, and a myriad of other thoughts galloped through her head, circling within, remaining unanswered. Each question that came and went and returned again grew more and more worrying than the last.

Some part of her wanted to back away from the brawl. She considered summoning Reimu up to deal with this mess, and hopefully she'd continue on her merry way from there. But if he could, against all explanation, override her Cleansed Crystal Mirror… then could he, perhaps, override Reimu's prowess?

The thought was terrifying enough that Shiki Eiki found herself glued into place. Very, very few things terrified the Yama, for she had seen her fair share of atrocities in her tenure of judging souls and siccing peoples' own reflections onto them. This, however, was disconcerting on a degree she couldn't even begin to articulate.

The battle before her grew more heated, more deranged, and yet she had noticed something off—the reflection and his original weren't going after the satchels they carried. Perhaps he'd stolen an artifact or something valuable and ran into her in the midst of fleeing, and the reflection sensed that he didn't want it broken, whatever it was. The thought eased her a bit; if that were the case, then perhaps law enforcement would come on his heels in one form or another and put him in his place.

 _Then_ she'd begin her cavalcade of questions. For now, though, his reflection served as ample distraction, and soon the calvary would arrive.

So went her observation, at any rate. She studied his choice of attire; plain torn shirt, a fundoshi that struggled to hold itself together as the owner kept contorting to duck and trade blows, and the satchel. Past that? Both original and double were as naked as they could come.

Shiki shivered; she'd have to avert her eyes when it came time to lecture this strange man. Hopefully, his fundoshi would hold out in the foreseeable future—last thing she fancied was indecency in the midst of a lecture. Perhaps he was a new breed of youkai? A hybrid? Both would adequately explain his odd mannerisms and method of fighting. She idly remembered Kourindou's shopkeeper; he was half-youkai, wasn't he? Perhaps he'd offer an explanation for… the less-than-stellar fistfight that unfolded before her.

Of course, she considered, he may not know anything about _this_ either, much less explain away how the man's limbs were even bending in all manner of improbable ways to begin with. Chances were, she'd go back to Hell to carry out her judgements with more questions on her mind than answers. She pulled out her Rod of Remorse, and fiddled with it.

She found it suspiciously light. Lighter than she could ever recall it having been. She looked at it; found it a blank slate.

Her legs finally moved when the original man broke through his reflection with a single, bone-breaking punch _through_ the double's head, and she found herself taking an uncertain step back. With the reflection crumbling to dust, he turned his black eyes onto Shiki Eiki and righted his body in the way it was meant to go. Then he stood to his full height and calmly, carefully approached her with a small yet twisted smile on his face.

Shiki Eiki put her Mirror and Rod away; no use holding them out in the open if this man was a thief as she'd suspected. She too stood to her full height—just reaching up to his stomach with her hat—and looked him in those black eyes with an even glare. "Who are you?" she asked.

The man leered at her—he, a stranger, had the temerity to leer at the Yama! "It doesn't matter," he answered in a thick, gravely voice with a slight echo to it.

Okay, perhaps he'd come from Hell, Shiki decided. She opened her mouth to ask again when he lunged at her, his fists aimed for her head. He was swift, and she could barely jump back out of the way, stumbling but managing to regain her balance as he created new craters in the ground. Shiki readied a few spell cards; hopefully, they'd dissuade the man, whoever and whatever he was.

He just grinned at her. "Sorry, I do not have any flashy magic or the like. Or spell cards," he said, waving his satchel for emphasis. Out came… no spell cards. "So you can't challenge me to a duel."

Shiki winced, stowing away her cards. Guess that explained the lack of bullets—he didn't adhere to spell card rules so much as opted to walk around them altogether. She made to fly over him, but when she jumped, she found her feet landing back on the ground against all explanation. She jumped again and landed clumsily as the man started to approach her once more. "You can't fly away from me, Yama of Paradise! Not as long as I walk Gensokyo!" he howled, glee bursting in his abyssal eyes.

Shiki turned and took the only available option left; she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Perhaps if she could gain distance, she could fly again. Part of her wondered where Komachi was at; she could've used the help sometime now. The man, however, was content to walk after her—not run, _walk._

Shiki looked over her shoulder as she gained some distance. Perhaps he'd be shot down at long range; however, as he had no spell cards of his own, that option was currently moot until she could find somebody who _could_ deal with this problem. That, and his walking was in itself disconcerting; was he, perhaps, expecting her to tire out? He certainly seemed to have been well-prepared in advance, lack of spell cards notwithstanding, which again begged the question—what was in his satchel?

She turned ahead and kept running. She was careful to not jump too soon; he could probably just run under her and render the flight effort void if he moved fast enough. That man could disable _flight,_ and he certainly had some sort of power to back that up. Whomever Shiki would tell about him, she'd have to make certain they knew that fact first and foremost, unless they were lucky enough to boast wings. The lack of spell cards would be a close second.

Right now… she had to run. Down the relatively straight and narrow path leading to the Youkai Mountain, she found the trees starting to thicken all around her. _"Youkai Forest!"_ she instinctively thought, eyes narrowing as the path likewise tightened.

The earth trembled; it shook with enough force that seemed to resonate throughout all of Gensokyo. Shiki glanced over her shoulder again; the man was suddenly feet away from her, diminishing in the distance again. His feral gleam and discouraging smile remained firmly etched on his visage, all directed at her with a predatory hunger. She turned ahead again, heart climbing up her throat for the first time that she could remember.

 _"Komachi… where are you?!"_ Shiki thought, clenching her teeth as she dove headfirst into the thicket of darkening woodland. Branches swatted at her, bushes brushed up against her, but she kept pressing on, finding herself on another path so worn it had been etched between the trees themselves.

The ground shook behind her again. He was getting closer. Shiki Eiki glanced around wildly, darting along the worn trail of the darkening forest around her. She almost stumbled on an errant root, but picked up her foot in time and turned on the balls of her feet to the left side of the path. She looked to the canopy during her maddened sprint; the sun was setting, its light filtering through the trees in a dying orange. Damnit! Night was coming faster than she thought, and at this rate she'd end up somehow getting lost in the Youkai Forest.

With some… _thing_ on her heels no less. She turned left again, catching herself against a tree as the ground shuddered with an unholy force. She pushed off the trunk and kept running; hearing the distinct breaking and crashing that only a fallen tree could produce. "Oh Yama of Paradiiiiiiise~" her pursuer sang in a mock-inflection. "I have something special for you~"

That declaration made the hairs on the back of Shiki's neck stand on end. There was something malignant in his statement, an ill-boding omen in his tone. A harken—no, a _promise_ of worse to come. Her chest started to burn, but only a little—perhaps her heart was trying to make its pilgrimage elsewhere. She twisted right, veering through a small meadow within the forest. Out here, she'd be in the open—but she'd need to hide, soon.

She twisted around, just in time to see the man charging through the trees, fist high and at the ready. Before she knew it, the fist suddenly swung low, impacted her chest, knocked the air from her lungs, and then she'd been sent careening through the meadow all the way to its other side within the span of a second. Trees swatted at her, tearing at her clothes and body until she landed shoulderblades-first on one that stopped her unprecedented flying session. A branch dug into the back of her uniform, tearing a sizeable chunk out as she fell to the ground and struggled to her feet. Her body ached something fierce; she heard bones popping, felt adrenaline coursing her body, felt the ground shaking again.

The third strike, she barely avoided by rolling to the side in a bush—without even looking to know where it was coming from. She picked herself up immediately after and started running again, mentally adding the first _countable_ sin to the tally. The man didn't strike her as the sort to see reason; thus, there was no point in trying to commune with him. He, in turn, continued to give chase, deliberately walking slowly to make her look over her now-bruising shoulders.

Shiki stifled a cry as she stumbled, an ankle popping painfully. Her upper garment was barely hanging on, already trying to slip down her torso before she had one arm yank it to her collarbone and keep it in place. She had to keep running; her injuries could be tended to later. Night was coming, swiftly—and the ground shook once more to let her know her attacker was, too.

She darted right, past some more trees that swatted at her. Nicks appeared in her skin, oozing fresh blood along her neck and shoulders. Never had she felt more vulnerable than she did now—rendered flightless, and forced to flee like an animal caught in a lab's maze. She was tempted to call out for Komachi, but held her tongue.

If that… fiend could send her across a meadow with no trouble, then Komachi would very likely have some issues dealing with the man herself. Shiki steeled her nerves, sprinting through another narrow path in the trees. Her vision was getting bleary, and her legs shook with each step she took on the ground. The forest darkened, forming shapes that twisted imposingly and impossibly in her faltering sight.

She heard more trees breaking and bowing behind her. Her panic increased tenfold as she turned and came upon the same meadow she'd been unceremoniously flung out of earlier. She turned around, waiting for another strike.

But the man didn't emerge from the thicket. Only the fleeting echo of fallen trees answered her. She veered right and ran back into the forest, pausing to hide behind a particularly thick tree surrounded by tall-enough bushes that it concealed her from sight. Back against the bark—sweet Hecatia, it stung like fire!—and teeth firmly clenched, she drew quiet, shaky breaths as she heard the ground shuddering once again. The sky above darkened further still, with only the light of the stars daring to penetrate the inky blackness.

"Yama, where'd you go?" her attacker called, a tinge of confusion in his voice. Shiki Eiki dared not peer over the bushes, or even move from her spot. The ground trembled with increasing frequency, though faintly and faintly fading at that—and it was promptly followed by the even softer echo of another tree meeting its untimely demise.

Shiki Eiki inhaled deeply, but softly and slowly. Her lungs ached; her back and ankle, both worse off, and her new cuts would need some treatment soon. Delicately, she let her half-shredded top fall, and pulled out her Rod of Remorse and Cleansed Crystal Mirror. Neither were damaged—that was a good sign. The latter was still showing that dark abyss, the former felt a little heavier, and was etched with a single sin that she had to feel for in the darkness. She started to ascertain the damage she had sustained so far; her bruises were darkening already, though she had to let her eyes adjust to see that, and dried blood crusted along the nicks in her skin.

But she had finally evaded him. She waited until the forest had fallen completely silent before putting her Rod and Mirror away. With great effort, she pried herself off of the tree, rolling both shoulders as she pulled her top back up with one hand. She still did not stand, however; the adrenaline was leaving her system now, and with it, the urge to run. And though she had lost her attacker, she had her doubts that things would stay that way for much longer.

Still, she was careful to keep those thoughts to herself—she did not want to make them into premonitions if she could help it. A wince shot from her ankle as she heard the ground shaking yet again, and her eyes widened with the passing of the sound. Had… had her attacker come back?

Part of her did _not_ want to check. At the same time, though, she knew that doing that was a better alternative to being proverbially left in the dark, waiting for certain danger to return. Hesitantly, she poked her head from the bushes and looked into the meadow.

The man was in the meadow once more, his back turned to her and a fairy held by his hands on her wings. "Where's the Yama of Paradise?!" the man barked. The fairy quivered at the question.

"I-I don't know!" the fairy replied. "P-please don't hurt me!" A horrific sound of meat tearing, followed by a deafening shriek pierced the air as the man slowly, brutally ripped one wing clean off the fairy's backside.

Shiki winced as the fairy began to sob—it was one thing to see it after a person had already died, but another thing to see this horrific barbarism in the flesh, whilst the suffering person was in the mortal coil. She ducked down into the bushes again, careful to avoid stirring them. She couldn't just leave the fairy to whatever fate the man had planned for her… but knew she wasn't able to stop it. All she could do was hide and listen. "Where. Is. The Yama?" the man barked again, anger rising in his echoing voice.

"I don't know!" the fairy replied. More meat tore, the horrible sound carrying throughout Youkai Forest. The fairy screeched in pain once more, louder than before. This was followed by the distinct sound of cloth tearing—though off of whom, Shiki had no intention of finding out. "No, please—" the fairy began, only to gasp and choke.

"Don't know a thing, eh? Guess I'll just have to make do with _you,_ " the man balefully spat. "Quit squirming or I'll snap your neck! I like my girls nice and quiet!" Shiki's stomach flipped on its end upon hearing those words, she moved to cover her ears, but her hands stalled.

She heard bones breaking, and stifled whimpers from the hapless fairy. A horrible squelch filled the air, followed by soft thumps hitting softer grass. The ground shuddered repeatedly, only stopping against the very tree that Shiki had hid behind. She heard and felt something get pushed on the other side of its bark, heard the cracks in the bark, and slowly looked up to find the man using his own torn shirt to anchor the fairy's wrists around the trunk.

Shiki opened her mouth, intending to call out to the man to stop accosting the terrified fairy, but her voice died in her throat as a series of disgustingly wet slaps filled the air. Throughout the whole ordeal, the fairy whimpered and choked in agony, and every time so much as a syllable came from her mouth, the man barked at her to shut up. The horrendous moment seemed to stretch for an eternity, each second on stark repeat that was permeated by what could only be described as purely nightmarish.

Shiki's throat dried out as the tree shook, each tremor winding down into the ground and beneath her as the fairy's arms gradually slumped. The wet slapping went on ceaselessly, itself fraying the bark of the tree by using the fairy as its medium. She couldn't tell when, but at some point the sobbing and whimpering just… stopped with a final, almost inaudible croak—followed swiftly by the distinct sound of yet more bones breaking. Eventually, so too did the other… disgusting sounds, but they went on for far longer than Shiki thought possible. She made to speak again, before one last squelch acted as the signal to the night terror's end, cutting her off effectively. The man grumbled and stepped back, and then stormed away, the ground shaking as he went.

She waited for silence to reign again before getting up to check, carefully walking out of the bushes and around the tree. The man was gone—the fairy, she found, was slumped against the tree, face pale and tear-stained expression one of endless anguish. That expression was further framed by blood pooling in her mouth, trickling along her chin and cheeks, itself almost black due to the starlight above. Her body was naked and bruised, and her head lolled as far back as it could go with some shred of cloth having been tightened around her neck, to the point that blood seeped down her sides from beneath it. Her back was covered in yet another fresh canvas of blood, trailing all the way to her legs. Her legs had hung limply beneath her, clenched tight but flowing with…

Shiki looked away, clenching her eyes shut, horror clawing at her being. Though the noise had long since subsided, it still rang in her ears. Though the crime had since been done, her stomach turned and turned as though it were still happening. And though she had barely escaped with her life, that meant someone else had a greater misfortune fall upon her shoulders. 

For the first time that she could recall, Shiki knew not what to do. She should have _helped_ the fairy, and yet… she wasn't in a position to help. Was this… what it was like to sin? Was this what it was like to be caught between two horrific alternatives? Was… was this what the man had in store for her? Or did he just take it out on the fairy because of her ignorance? Bile rose up her throat as questions danced around in her head with the strength of a tempest, but she held it down with a great force of will. Her eyes opened, and hesitantly, she turned to lift a hand to the fairy, noticing she had made no movement since she stepped out of the bushes—hadn't _been_ moving for quite some time now.

Hand met neck, avoiding the drying blood. A chill raced up her arm upon contact. The fairy had grown cold. A horrific, ignoble end claimed her this night. 

Shiki hesitantly lifted that hand to the fairy's wide-open eyes and gently pressed on the lids to draw them shut. She drew a deep breath and walked to where the poor thing had her wings ripped off, only to find… an empty patch of blood painting the area. The wings themselves were gone. She felt… uneasy, distinctly so, about judging this fairy in the afterlife—but such was the duty of the Yama. And duty overruled personal feelings, no matter the circumstance.

Shiki walked in the direction of the Sanzu River, making a mental note to… not watch the fairy's dying moments when it came time to judge her—having seen the evidence of this vicious crime, within such close proximity firsthand no less, she'd rather not undergo a repeat. She was also going to make an appointment with a shrine to have the fairy buried—even the dead and soon-to-be-judged needed some level of respect, and it was the very least she could do for the poor thing. The sun did not rise for some time after she had left the Youkai Forest.

But it did, eventually, and it cast its light upon the gruesome scene. Both attacker and witness were already gone by then.


	2. II- Unorthodox Mannerisms

Komachi Onozuka scratched her temples as the newest departed soul came up to her—with a bobbing gait that suggested a heavy limp. Incomprehensible blubbering left the soul a mile a minute, half-gargled and riddled with hiccups. She stood on the Sanzu's pier, watching the soul approach and trying not to dig her nails too deeply into her skull doing so. She studied the spirit carefully, noticing several things that were off from the standard which only a shinigami could see—bent neck, legs going lopsided somehow, cloth dangling from neck…

Aaaaaand no clothes. She winced at the sight; such a thing, while not exactly unheard of in Gensokyo, wasn't all that common either—in that such deaths usually spawned more youkai after the fact. Oof, this one went through a wringer alright, but it was best to let the soul approach—given said soul's gait, that seemed it may take a while even _with_ her distance manipulation coming to effect. Poor thing had to sway her lopsided head from side to side instead of turning it normally, just to see where she was going.

This one definitely did not sustain a normal death, if she were any judge of the matter.

So she shifted and sat on the pier, hand on face, and patiently waited for the inevitable confrontation. The blubbering only grew more frantic the closer the spirit got, more… frightened with each step. Great, another day on duty and she was stuck with a traumatized one who still had yet to get to the pier. Shiki was probably going to grill this one on a spit, and… now that she thought of it, where _was_ the boss? Komachi rubbed her temples again, brows furrowing until a big mountain stood between them; the Yama should've been here by now…

An uneasy feeling settled in Komachi's gut as the waiting game continued. The sun climbed higher and higher, hours going by uncounted, practically nothing else of interest happened… and it wasn't a surprise that the Yama finally showed up and got to the pier first as the sun reached noon. What _was_ surprising, enough to make her jump to her feet in worry, was Shiki's condition—she looked like she confronted Reimu Hakurei on the wrong day at the wrong time. "K-Komachi…" Shiki said with a noticeable wince; she too was favoring one foot over the other. And… a hand was holding up her top, albeit barely.

Komachi's eyes widened. She did a double-take to make sure her brain wasn't up to any tricks. "Boss… you okay?" she asked; it felt so stupid to ask, but the utterance just came on instinct before she could reel it in.

Shiki shook her head. "No… I was attacked," she answered. She turned to the blubbering soul, who had stopped approaching the pier to look at her. Her gut twisted at the sight; the sensation amplified the soreness of her back and bruises for a moment.

Komachi blinked and turned to the soul too. "Should I even ask…" she muttered. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her boss shake her head again.

"I'll explain… after I judge this one," Shiki said, her voice distinctly quiet and tense. The soul began shambling to the pier again, though the blubbering had stopped. "I'll have… to explain myself either way."

Komachi's pupils shrank, and she turned to Shiki Eiki again. That statement rarely, if ever, came from her boss's mouth; to hear her say it now sent chills down her spine. "Boss, what the Hell are you saying?" she demanded, eyes narrowing without much effort. Shiki turned to meet her confused glare and sighed.

Shiki opened her mouth to answer, only to consider what she would have said in that moment, and turned away with mouth clenching back shut. The hand holding her garment up balled tightly into a fist, and Shiki's lips pressed into a thin, trembling line. "Shiki-sama…?" Komachi tried, her glare easing up and her mind stirring up into a tizzy as silence lingered. Shiki gave a wordless grunt and shifted to beckon the soul closer with her free hand, allowing Komachi to see a nasty scrape that was crusted in dried blood stretching across her back.

The soul, instead of approaching Komachi, veered straight for Shiki Eiki. The first coherent thing that left the spirit's mouth that day made Shiki tremble, and Komachi blink in bewilderment: "I… don't want to go."

"You… don't?" Shiki asked, struggling to process the remark. The soul bobbed her limp head from side to side.

"I just… want to lay… lay down… hide in a hole… be buried and forgotten," the soul affirmed in a weak croak. "Please… leave me…"

"Um… then why are you here?" Komachi pressed, frowning in concern as her eyes darted between the soul and her boss. The soul's actions certainly didn't match up with her words. Paired off with her boss's wounds of all things… another shiver ran up Komachi's spine. Something was up.

"I…" The soul shook, oddly-bent legs straining to support the rest of her body.

Shiki Eiki hesitantly pulled out her Mirror. Then, her Rod, and managed to hold both with her free hand. She looked at the soul intently for a moment, then to her instruments of judgement. The Mirror worked as intended for the soul the instant the reflective glass turned to face her—she could scry memories, people, past events as she pleased. Komachi looked over her shoulder to see the scrying in action, before taking a step back when Shiki cut the connection off just as it started to reach the horrific conclusion—by sharply turning the Mirror down to her hip in one fell swoop.

Once the Mirror had done its work, silence reigned throughout the whole Sanzu River for several minutes on end. Nobody made to move; in fact, the only movement to be had was the water and nearby flowers whenever the wind blew past to caress them. "Komachi…" Shiki began, voice shaking the slightest bit, "I… there's… a reason… I didn't watch..."

"The death?" Komachi finished.

Shiki gravely nodded. "I… saw… what happened at that moment," she confessed. "In the flesh."

It took several long seconds for both soul and shinigami to process the statement. When it clicked, one pair of eyes went wide as saucers. "You _what?!_ " Komachi howled, turning to her boss and shifting her scythe behind her back as if expecting another lecture.

But no lecture came. Shiki turned to her, mustering as even a look as she could manage, though hints of worry still showed on her face. "I… saw what happened. Physically," Shiki repeated, voice slightly stern yet still holding that distinct note of trouble in its tone. "I'll… get my wounds treated. You… ferry this soul."

Komachi swallowed a lump in her throat that wasn't there before. So did the spirit. "You… were there?" she asked.

Again, Shiki nodded, turning to the soul. "I was," she answered tersely. "I will explain it to you… at the courtroom. Before your trial." She turned to Komachi once more. "Let this soul vent along the way."

"B-but—" Komachi stammered, uncomprehending of this sudden turn of events.

Shiki's face hardened slightly. "Do it, Komachi," she said firmly. With that command, she began to fly, albeit a little wobbly due to her exposed injuries. Komachi could only gawk as her boss, still struggling to keep her upper garments together, flew over the Sanzu to get herself patched up. She turned to the soul.

"So… uh… have any spiritual wealth?" Komachi asked awkwardly, her stomach starting to do cartwheels all of a sudden. The soul proceeded to remove the cloth from her neck and offered it to her like it was payment. Then, the cloth was shaken by her outstretched hand, and… out fell a single coin that pinged as it landed at Komachi's feet. She turned to stare at the lonesome piece of change. "... okay then," she grumbled. Bending over to pick up the coin, she sighed in befuddlement—and when she blinked, she found herself holding a small mountain of them. Another blink, and the mountain doubled in size. 

She stowed the coins away in her apron before they could continue multiplying. "I guess it'll have to do…" Both walked to the end of the pier, where an oar boat waited for passengers, sitting in the waters as still as a grave.

Komachi took the oar, and watched as the soul almost tumbled arse over teakettle into the Sanzu before pulling herself back to her clumsy feet. She began to row as her passenger sat down, back facing her—and holy Higan, those were some long scars on that back! "So… why don't you want to be judged?" Komachi asked, hoping to strike a conversation with the soul.

The soul refused to answer, instead just curling up in the boat as if to hide from something.

Well… Shiki _did_ say to let the soul vent. Komachi groaned in annoyance; her passenger was doing nothing of the sort, instead just laying down as if to die all over again.

The boat ride would be a long one, distance manipulation or not.

***

Shiki Eiki sat in the judge's bench, within the special section of Hell housing the Ministry of Right and Wrong, where the souls would be judged. A fresh change of clothes did a few wonders, and what that couldn't fix was covered by basic medical treatment. And though those immediate needs were taken care of—on top of a bathroom break, even Yama needed those from time to time—they did nothing to address her mounting concerns.

Her Mirror worked just fine and dandy at the Sanzu, but nowhere near her attacker—the fairy's murderer. Just… what the Hell was going on?! With both Rod and Mirror on the bench before her, she lifted both her hands to rub furiously at her temples, willing the hamster wheels of her brain to kickstart. Possible answer after possible answer tumbled in and out and back in again, along with the stampede of questions that were now hammering the insides of her skull.

But then a mish-mash of logistics started an uprising, conspiracy theories threatened a revolution, paranoia decided to break loose and take a vacation to the outside world, and before long she found herself chin-deep in another mental tizzy. Okay, maybe it was best to set that hurricane of pandemonium aside; she did have a soul to judge, after all, and she would arrive any moment now…

Deep breaths, slowly, in and out and in again. The rubbing of her temples slowed, the mental storm hushed up as willpower came over to lock the entirety of it in a cage, and concern melted away along with last night's fatigue.

Deep breaths. In, and out, and in again.

Shiki's hands dropped to clasp her tools of judgement as her mind cleared itself of all her worries and doubts. She turned to the Rod of Remorse and rubbed it with her hand, erasing that single sin that was etched onto it the night before. Good. Blank slate. It lightened as the sin melted away, though only a smidgen. Then she checked the Mirror for any unsavory markings; there were none to be had, not even the tiniest droplet of blood.

Good. Clean and pure, as it always has been, even when looking at unsavory deeds through its glass. Mentally, she began setting the parameters for black and white, and going over those parameters. Somewhere along the way, she drew the line between sin and punishment, clarity and ambiguity.

The court's doors finally opened. In stumbled her expected guest. She turned to the soul, and saw Komachi poking her head in. "Vented out nothing, boss," Komachi reported, a sour frown on her face. "Not a peep."

Shiki Eiki nodded, pursing her lips in contemplation as she absorbed that tidbit of news. "Alright. You may ferry the next soul," she said.

Komachi nodded and walked out of the courtroom, leaving just her boss and the soul that was soon-to-be-judged alone. Silence held for a few seconds, and then Shiki sighed. "Before we get proceedings underway…" She drew a deep breath, "I would like to ask you something. Actually, a few somethings."

The soul tensed. "Y-yes?"

"Tell me… was your flight disabled, prior to… having your wings forcibly parted from your body?" Shiki asked. She watched the soul carefully, studying any reaction that came from the defendant's podium.

Eventually, she received a crooked nod. "N-no matter how hard I flapped… I just… couldn't get off the ground," the soul answered.

Shiki's brow furrowed. That was disconcerting to hear. "What provoked… him?" she pressed.

The soul trembled, hands moving to rub her swaying head for a moment. "N-nothing… he just… saw me and… dragged me..."

Shiki could easily see where _that_ statement was going. "Did you see anything inside his satchel?" she finished.

The soul shook her head. "Just… the satchel itself," she answered. "Revered Yama… why do you ask?"

Shiki heaved a small sigh of concern. "Well… considering it was me he was after, I had some… questions on my mind," she replied. "That man… your murderer… confounds me. I could not read him at all."

The soul flinched. "Wh-what?" she squeaked.

"Exactly," Shiki agreed with a blunt nod. "Nor could I myself fly in his presence. And since I knew nothing of him… I figured that you may have," she concluded grimly. "Thus, we will… not be revisiting your death for this trial—the situation was beyond anybody's control, and the sin committed then was not and never will be yours."

"However, though that may be the case, I will let you know that it will _not_ affect the outcome of your judgement in any other way; nothing more than a footnote, as it were," Shiki said, staring the soul down as she prepared to initiate judgement.

"I-I have a question," the soul cut in just as Shiki wrapped her hand around the Mirror's handle.

"Then ask," Shiki replied, brows creasing ever so slightly.

"I-if… if others… die to him… are you gonna ask them about him, t-too?" the soul asked. Shiki pursed her lips for a long moment. Odd as the question was… there was a smidgen of chance that others might meet the same gruesome end or worse, by the very same hands that necessitated this soul's appointment to begin with.

Rendered flightless. Torn asunder. _Violated._ Murdered.

And that was all she cared to keep on _that man's_ tally of sins so far, her own run-in with him aside.

Fairly legitimate question, as far as she was concerned. She gave a grim nod. "I would have to at that point," she said in finality, in a tone brokering no argument—though her voice was softened, only a smidgen. "He had the temerity to assault me—his schemes, whatever they are, elude me. This cannot be allowed to go unchecked."

The soul nodded and bowed her head, although it required her hands to hold it at a certain level above ground lest it separate from her contorted neck. "Very well then…" she muttered. She watched as Shiki Eiki raised the Mirror, reflective glass in her direction, and started to scry once again. She remained motionless, noticing that never once through the scrying had the Yama laid her other hand on the Rod of Remorse. The moment stretched to eternity, as the Revered Yama did not took her eyes off of the Mirror at all. She seemed a lot more focused than usual—and given her reputation, that in itself was saying much to the point of generosity.

Scrying…

Scrying…

That word burned in the soul's mind. Burned at her wounds. Burned at her broken bones.

Eternity stretched. Dutifully-attentive scrying continued without interruption.

Until finally… the silence broke.

Shiki Eiki set the Mirror down and rose a blank Rod of Remorse to her face, its point leveled with the tip of her nose, almost dividing her own face in half. "Hitama Ao… I have found you've lead a most exemplary life amongst your fellow fae-folk, as not one sin has blemished my Rod of Remorse. You've… led a stellar, ideal, and dutiful purpose, finding balance in all things… before it was cut short. Thus, I declare… that you will reincarnate so that you can live a more… fulfilled life."

Hitama Ao nodded respectfully. "Um… can I… wait… until he's…"

Shiki nodded, cutting her off. "Yes, you may withhold reincarnation until… your murderer is dealt with," she said. "You may go now." And with that, Hitama Ao turned and vacated the premises. Shiki shifted in her seat, leaning a little on her bench as she set the blank Rod of Remorse down. Some part of her hoped Komachi would return empty-handed on the soul front, however, she knew better than to do more than merely acknowledge it. Although her internal snarker _really_ hoped it was that strange man; he had some explaining to do.

Komachi returned after a while, still frowning. "No souls, boss," she reported sourly.

 _Of course._ Shiki nodded with a weary sigh. "You sound like you've found something else," she noted, twisting her words wryly.

Komachi nodded. _Here we go._ "Uh… yeah." She lifted a hand and made a come here gesture, oddly with knuckles facing the doors. Before Shiki could ask why she was doing this, in strode a woman with a red dress, a red bow…

Oh boy, fireworks incarnate. She could recognize that gohei anywhere. "Reimu Hakurei?" Shiki asked, both brows climbing up her head.

Reimu nodded. "Yeah, can we cut to the chase?" she fired back rather snappishly, eyes narrowing dangerously low. Even better, something managed to light her fuse—this oughta be good. Shiki nodded, picked up her tools of judgement, and walked down from the judge's bench to approach Reimu directly. Reimu saw the limp right away; one foot trying to move, but oddly stiff and jittery as the other one picked up its slack.

"This isn't the place to discuss 'the chase,' whatever it may be, shrine maiden," Shiki said bluntly. "Can we move this little affair to your shrine?"

Reimu's eyes widened, and she blinked. Taken aback for a second, she just dumbly nodded before her look of ire reasserted itself. "I was kinda hoping you'd say that…" she said, strangely ominous in tone. The three walked out of the courtroom; Komachi suppressed another spine-running chill, Shiki herself kept her expression neutral, and Reimu looked fit to snap at anything and everything at any given moment. 

"So… what brought you here?" Shiki asked, gut twisting as her ankle began aching something fierce. She made a mental note to visit Eintei sooner or later.

"Oh, you're asking _now?_ " Reimu hissed, a dark shadow spreading on her face. "Well… I was called over by Sanae a few hours ago. Because you see, Aya found a _dead body_ in the Youkai Forest…"

***

After leaving Hell and the Sanzu River, with some distance manipulation thrown in for good measure, Shiki and Komachi found themselves being escorted to the Hakurei Shrine, courtesy of its peeved-off maiden. All three strode through the grounds, entered the shrine proper, and sat down around its tiny table within its living room—one among them having her hurt ankle resting under the table after some fighting to move it there. Shiki noticed the table was bereft of its usual tea set—a fact that became more than pronounced as Reimu slammed a clenched fist onto its surface, murder in her eyes.

"Tell me, Shiki… do you know why that dead body was there?" Reimu asked, voice dangerously low. "Because you judge the dead, for crying out loud—you'd be one of the first to know about this."

Shiki could only nod. Reimu didn't seem to realize exactly how hard she'd hit the nail on its head in this case. "You are staring at one half of the reason, Hakurei," she said simply.

Reimu leaned forward, an eye twitching. "What was that?" she hissed, teeth almost grinding against each other with the question.

"The perpetrator was after me—but could not find me, even though I was in the area. So he attacked a hapless fairy instead, when she was unable to provide him answers to my whereabouts," Shiki replied, concern starting to niggle in the back of her head again. Reimu leaned a little closer, scowling and silently demanding an explanation for the confession. "I ran into him…" Shiki began, taking a deep breath before filling Komachi and Reimu in on the recent happenings.

Start to finish at that—she left out no detail to chance. With such strange phenomena as this, she couldn't _afford_ to. As she told Reimu and Komachi what had happened, the former's anger melted into gawking surprise, and the latter paled considerably as her boss went on. She even told them what Hitama Ao relayed to her—before finishing up with, "And then you came in demanding answers, Reimu Hakurei. Though, I must admit your concern is well-founded."

Reimu and Komachi sat in wide-eyed, slack-jawed and dumbfounded silence, staring at Shiki Eiki as if she had gone mad. But Shiki Eiki kept her neutral expression, and her posture as straight as her Rod of Remorse. "Okay… okay… cancelling flight somehow…" Reimu began, struggling to process all of this. Shiki nodded once. "Somehow negating your Mirror's scrying powers…" Another nod. "Yet allowing you to send his reflection back at him…" A third nod. At this, Reimu threw her hands into the air. "Shiki, let's be real—what are the odds of that happening?!"

"Well... we have in Gensokyo's premises a vampiress who can control _fate,_ a goddess whose shrine maiden can invoke miracles, whom you'd said had contacted you about the deceased fairy, and a youkai with power over any and all boundaries—and that's all I care to pinpoint at present," Shiki fired back, calm and collected as a cucumber. "You tell me."

Reimu dropped her hands rather melodramatically, with added theatrics in the form of slamming them on the table again. Though she had found herself eating crow at Shiki's statement, the odds of something like _this_ happening were practically unheard of, even for Gensokyo and its varied residents. "Really though, what are the chances?!" she repeated, more exasperated than anything.

That made Shiki's brow furrow further, and her lips pulled into a tight line. She closed her eyes, willing the hamster wheels of her mind to work once again. Of course, Reimu also had her own point of consideration—though looking at it, with what she knew… "Not very good," Shiki conceded, a sigh leaving her mouth as her eyes opened once more.

Reimu's scowl deepened to a degree that slightly concerned even the Yama. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"Odds are not in our favor, Hakurei, if such a being capable of blocking flight and my Mirror's scrying capabilities is indeed walking throughout Gensokyo as we speak," Shiki elaborated, frowning herself. "While the chances of it happening are… fairly slim, considering it already _has_ happened, it would bear some looking in to."

Reimu leaned back, anger still etched on her face. "So what do you propose we should do?" she questioned, crossing her arms. "Because if that man's up to no good, as you say…"

Shiki leveled an even stare at Reimu, easing her expression. It was enough to silence her. "I will look into the matter myself—I know not why he was after me to begin with, but having seen his… shall we say, passive abilities, it does little save for begging questions. Assuming he actually has passive abilities, and not artifacts of his own." Resolve filled the Yama, but with it came an air of dread. "If this is an incident… or something worse, I'm going to need every bit of information I can lay my hands on. As you've pointed out, this is practically unheard of—and as such, I fear some rather unorthodox measures must be taken."

Reimu's face hardened. She leaned forward again, slamming a hand on the table once more. "Whoa whoa whoa, do you even _know_ what the Hell it is you're suggesting?!" she barked.

Shiki nodded bluntly. "I am well aware of it," she said simply. "For if he can override my Mirror, chances are good that he can do the same to the likes of Satori Komeiji. Or perhaps even the likes of Flandre Scarlet—I only saw a fraction of his strength, truth be told. He is dangerous; we cannot take any chances."

Reimu's brain suddenly concocted an image of Flandre's power being nullified. The thought sent chills down her spine. Adding to that next to nothing in regards of knowledge about this man…

Yep. She was looking at the makings of an incident, alright. Although this was one of the more unusual ones as of late. And if _the Yama_ of all people wanted to solve it…

Komachi decided to interject, slamming her hand on the table to snag Reimu's attention, "What if he can't mess with machines? The kappa should be immune to that odd quirk of his."

Shiki turned to her subordinate, a slight smile forming on her face. "I had not before considered that, Komachi. And perhaps, you may be on to something," she said, the tiniest bit of joy in her tone.

Reimu smirked. "Which means Kanako _should_ be unaffected as well," she said.

Shiki turned to Reimu and nodded. "Of course, it is nothing but conjecture at this time. Machines can be broken in a myriad of other ways—his negation power may not even be needed then. He can fell trees simply by running," she pointed out.

Reimu nodded, taking that into account. "Which means we may need a machine strong enough to stop him," she said. "But until we get one, we can't go near him." She looked at Shiki evenly. "How bad did he hurt you?"

Shiki stood up, and wordlessly shed her upper garment to reveal bloodied bandages wrapped haphazardly around her torso and shoulders. Some of the bandages were loose and hanging around her waist, suggesting they weren't properly applied nor tightened accordingly. A few of the straps held better, although a few looked a bit too tight for comfort. Through the wrappings, Reimu could see the wounds—the crusted blood along her back, still clinging along the edges of the injury, the dark bruises adorning its length in a blemish she'd never seen on the Yama before. When she turned around to show her the bandaged front, she winced at a big black bruise showing through more wrappings on her collarbone. The cuts along her arms, also caked with dried blood, merely accentuated the other wounds with their numbers—itself just as disconcerting as the rest of her physical state.

"Came to me clutching her top like like it was a string of pearls," Komachi added as an aside, frowning. "Boss, we're gonna have to redress your wounds before we go out and do any investigating—that patch job looks rushed."

"I concur," Reimu said simply, standing up. "And we'll need to look at your foot too." Shiki nodded and sat down again, careful to avoid aggravating her ankle. Reimu walked away from the table, heading into another room down a nearby hall in the shrine's confines to start a supply hunt. Komachi took Shiki's top garment and folded it neatly before resting it to the side of the table.

"So, boss, who should we visit first?" Komachi asked as the sounds of shuffling objects filled the living room from a hall down.

Shiki pressed her lips into a thin line. "Considering my mysterious attacker could be anywhere… at least, within Youkai Mountain's vicinity, we may have to avoid the area for now," she muttered grimly. "Though, we're paying that wind charmer a visit."

"Assuming your attacker can't teleport," Komachi added as another aside. Smartassery or not, there was another point to be had in her statement.

Shiki nodded again. "Assuming he can't teleport," she agreed bluntly. She winced as Komachi leaned over and put a hand on her shoulder, but grit her teeth to stifle a groan of pain.

"Ey boss, just take it easy. You may wanna prop that foot up though…" Komachi muttered as Reimu returned, an armful of medicinal supplies in hand. Shiki nodded and, with a great effort, lifted her hurt ankle and set it on the table after some careful maneuvering. "Whoa, easy there."

Shiki bit her lip as Reimu walked over and sat down next to her. Tenderly, Reimu set the supplies on the table, and reached out to tug the loose bandages apart first. Those slipped off with ease, followed by the tight-looking bandages. "Yeesh, did you apply these blindfolded?" Reimu asked incredulously, pulling the bandages strap by strap to see the full extent of the injuries.

"I don't think it was done blindfolded," Komachi piped up. "I think it was done one-handed."

"Oh shush," Shiki protested with a wince, sending her subordinate a small but pained glare. Though internally, she was glad she had Komachi with her now—all things considered, she was going to need all the help she could muster.


	3. III- Reflection

The sun was setting as Reimu, Komachi, and Shiki made their way to the Moriya Shrine on the same trail where this whole mess started the day prior. Shiki lagged behind due to her wounds, though she was still determined to keep up with them. To be fair, Reimu and Komachi were careful to not walk too fast nor too far ahead, and the latter kept her eyes on the surrounding forest in case trouble decided to rear its head.

But no trouble came. The walk along the path was quiet and peaceful.

Still, Reimu and her current company knew better than to be lulled into a false sense of security, especially after passing by the unfortunate part of the path that now sported twin mini-craters in its surface. "Shiki's not in lecture mode…" Reimu mumbled, frowning as she took that phenomenon at face value.

"Why would she be?" Komachi pointed out. "She's been bothered ever since she came to the Sanzu."

Reimu nodded slowly, and sighed. "Just about anybody would be, with an incident like this…" she conceded.

"You two _do_ realize I'm behind you?" Shiki piped up, smothering her annoyance with the calmness of her tone.

Reimu bobbed her head emphatically, acutely aware of the annoyance Shiki tried to hide. "We know," she answered.

"You know we can just fly up—" Komachi began.

"Absolutely not!" Shiki said, voice only slightly raised. "Not with… the chance…"

"Oh, right, Mr. I'm-Not-Readable," Komachi interjected, nodding rather drolly. "Of course. Say, if I see him, can I decapitate him?"

"... shinigami aren't supposed to kill people," Shiki muttered, shoulders sagging a little at the suggestion.

"Well, he's dangerous, and he had the balls to actually hurt you enough to require basic medical treatment," Komachi retorted, a bit of sass in her voice. "I can argue I've every damn right to wedge my scythe into his skull when I see him."

"If you do, you're most likely not ferrying him after," Shiki replied bluntly, straightening her posture as much as her hurt ankle, aching backside, and current method of walking would allow. "I doubt he'd generate much, if any, in the way of spiritual wealth."

"Eh, you win some, you lose some," Komachi muttered, waving a hand rather dismissively.

"As Marisa would say, 'Ain't that the truth?'" Reimu questioned, shrugging her shoulders.

"Here, here," Shiki agreed, an air of resignation in her voice accompanying her slow nod. "Such seems to be a universal constant."

And with that, the three continued on their way in silence. Up the long path they marched—well, two marched, and one tried not to stumble everywhere—and did not dare stop even once. The sun dipped behind the horizon as they reached the torii gate and the stairs behind it after a grueling two hours of walking.

Shiki paused, glancing around. She heard little around the area, save the soft whistling of wind. While she recognized that now would be the time for everybody to go to bed, save a few select individuals under very selective circumstances, she wasn't exactly about to take that musing and run to Reimu's donations box with it. There was a chance, after all, that the inhabitants of the shrine in these parts were elsewhere.

She looked to the stairs. Reimu and Komachi had yet to take the first step, and both were looking at her. "You coming?" Reimu asked.

Shiki snapped out of her reverie and nodded, hobbling over wordlessly. She marched up the stairs ahead of her companions, whom shared uncertain looks with each other at her passing. "Should we not let her take the stairs?" Komachi asked, frowning.

Reimu shrugged. "No stopping her at this point." She started walking after Shiki, with Komachi falling into step behind her. The wind picked up slightly, lifting dress and skirt with just enough discrimination that Shiki had to resort to holding hers down with both hands to keep from accidentally flashing the shrine maiden. But by that point, Reimu had to avert her eyes anyway, for she'd seen just enough exposed skin between skirt and sock to discern that there was a bruise or two on the Yama's inner thighs. _"Oh well,"_ she thought with a mental shrug of indifference, _"I can see why she kept those hidden."_

That, and the bruises were just small enough they'd heal in a few days' time anyway; thus, they weren't anymore priority for Reimu than the wind itself. The walk up the flight was otherwise uneventful, though it was a bit arduous due to gravity trying and failing to fight them. Reaching the top of the flight first, Shiki stopped to survey the shrine beyond.

Doors closed.

Lights off, shrouding the interior in darkness.

And yet, pacing the grounds with her hands behind her back, was Sanae Kochiya. Shiki held up a hand, knuckles facing the stairs as Reimu and Komachi finished the flight. They stopped at her signal, and turned to ask what was going on when she just wordlessly gestured at Sanae for emphasis.

"Who could've done it…" Sanae muttered to herself, brows furrowed and nose wrinkled. She started wringing her hands, though she kept them behind her back. "Does another youkai need exterminating…"

Shiki frowned, but only slightly. She didn't take comfort in the fact that she wasn't the only one with a myriad of questions on her mind—that just meant there'd be more work to finding answers. Cautiously, she approached the concerned wind charmer and cleared her throat to let her know she was there. Sanae stopped pacing and snapped her gaze to the stairs, a frown creasing her brow as she saw Shiki approaching. "Okay, if this is about that one time I got drunk with Kanako and Suwako—" Sanae began.

Shiki raised a hand again, palm facing forward before shaking her head. "I heard you received word from a particular crow tengu regarding a dead body," Shiki began, lowering her hand.

Sanae paused, considering what she had just heard. "Oh…" she muttered.

Shiki nodded. "Yes. Tell me… what, exactly, happened then?"

Sanae's lips tightened into a thin line. She studied Shiki as Reimu and Komachi moved to flank her on either side. Sensing she was well outnumbered, she gave in on the spot. "I was sweeping the shrine grounds to clear the main path when I saw Aya flying overhead. She went past me at first, and landed in Youkai Forest. I didn't think anything of it, so I kept cleaning."

Shiki nodded, bading that Sanae continue. Sanae did just that, "So then I finished cleaning a half-hour later when Aya launched back out of the Forest and homed in on the Moriya Shrine screaming her head off. I flew up to her to keep her from scattering the raked leaves—got yelled at well into the night by Suwako for that once—and saw her face. She was… pale."

Shiki's expression eased a little. "Did it take any… coaxing for her to tell you about the discovery?"

Sanae nodded a little frantically. "And a danmaku duel—she couldn't manage to keep her wings flapping and wouldn't stop screaming until I bested her in combat, that's how shaken she was." She rocked on her feet, still wringing her hands. "After that, she could think a little straighter and just gave me the nutshell version—I quote, 'body in forest, bloodied and beaten, tied to a tree.' She dragged me to the scene—it was something I had to see with my own eyes," she concluded. A weary sigh escaped her lips; evidently, she was expecting a certain somebody to launch into lecture mode at any given time.

Yet, no lecture came. In its place stood the expected lecturer, staring at her with hamster wheels visibly turning in her head and concern glazing her eyes. A thick air of worry swiftly smothered the wind, hushing its whispering gales, and slowly dawning confusion caused Sanae to stop rocking on her feet and wringing her hands. Shiki continued to stare, almost… unblinking at that, judging without a word. For a few seconds, both may as well have been statues.

Sanae started to see the dread written all across Shiki's face. Reimu and Komachi's silence didn't help matters either; they, too, might have been petrified by the sudden absence of wind. She was tempted to invoke a miracle, but… the triad of looks just stopped her cold. Yet, there wasn't anything malicious about those looks—nothing but worry held steadfast in their unchanging expressions.

An air of wrongness slowly sank into Sanae's bones the longer she studied their faces. Some part of her wondered if she was dreaming—normally, she'd have a ringing headache by now, just dealing with Shiki. Shiki spoke first, after a few more seconds of studying Sanae's faltering expression, "You are wondering _why_ I haven't, in your vernacular, 'blown my top off' as it were." Sanae nodded dumbly, brows twitching with the urge to take a hike. "We're looking into the matter regarding the body as we speak—suffice to say, I've been dragged headfirst into it," Shiki elaborated.

"Soul's already been ferried and judged for your information," Komachi piped up. "So ya don't gotta worry about more youkai being, y'know, born of that death and whatnot."

Sanae nodded and parted her hands, though one of her feet started tapping the moment she did. She sensed an unspoken 'but' in Komachi's statement, and after taking a second to piece its most probable location, clenched her hands into fists. "Something's up, isn't it?" she hissed. Three grave nods gave her all the confirmation she needed. "Well, what is it?!"

Reimu sighed and gave her the situation's nutshell, "Incident, and Shiki here wants to solve it. We know the looks of the who, don't know the who's name, how or the why of the incident."

Sanae released a long groan as 'incident' left Reimu's mouth. _Of course_ it had to be an incident; she'd have been more surprised if it was a standard tussle between youkai instead. "Isn't incident-solving your gig?" she grumbled.

Reimu nodded. "Normally," she added. "But you see…" She nudged Shiki with little more than a poke to the shoulder, right below a bruise. Shiki winced and stumbled away from the offending poke, in doing so almost tripping on her hurt ankle and tumbling into Komachi's outstretched arms as a result. Sanae saw the limp in action and her eyes went wide. "The perp attacked the Yama, and left her wounded… and killed the owner of the corpse basically in front of her."

Sanae's pupils shrank at that. She lifted a hand, unclenched it, balled it back up into a fist, extended her index finger and started to gesticulate wildly about as she started, "Hold the gohei, slow down, and stop the presses of the _Bunbunmaru_ newspaper, what in the unutterable—"

Shiki disentangled herself from Komachi and straightened her posture again. It managed to hush Sanae up, though failed to stop her flailing gesture. "Suffice to say, I did not hear the Hakurei miko stutter one bit," she chimed in, tone equal parts displeased and resigned to that which she'd been dragged into. She turned an expectant look towards her subordinate. "Did you hear any stuttering, Komachi?"

Komachi shook her head. "Nope, not one bit," she affirmed.

"Still," Sanae started anew, flailing her finger much harder. It seemed her gravy train had been oiled well in advance, "What in the unutterable fu—" She paused briefly, considering her word choice around Shiki for a second, "—flaming swords went down in the perpetrator's head for him to decide it was a really good idea to _**attack the bloody Yamaxanadu?!**_ "

"Somebody with rotten vegetables for brains," Reimu snarked in reply, waving a hand dismissively. "Even Rinnosuke wouldn't pull a stint like that."

"And the power to back up the muscle," Shiki added bluntly, crossing her arms. "Listen very carefully, Sanae Kochiya—he can disable flight, unaided. He can break trees merely by sprinting. He could even, partially, disable my Cleaned Crystal Mirror—I could not read him, and he bested his own reflection in combat. Do not, I repeat, _do **not**_ under any circumstances go near him, lest I'll end up having to judge you far earlier than anticipated." Her gaze hardened, and she stared into Sanae's eyes with nothing short of dire urgency. It may as well have been the look that one would have expected her to give to an elderly person, telling them wordlessly to repent because their clock was ticking.

All the same, it managed to make Sanae go motionless again, finger still raised and outstretched. She and Shiki were locked into a staring contest, although it was only for a few seconds—both blinked and faltered, one lowering her hand and the other shifting to ease pressure off of her wounded ankle. "D-disabling flight?" Sanae repeated, pupils shrinking as the mental hamster wheels turned and registered that tidbit.

Shiki nodded gravely. "A large factor of my injuries to start with—pun most definitely not intended," she replied. "He has the build of Rinnosuke, except more muscular and… favoring twisting his body to retaliate. I know not what else he is capable of; what I do know is from first-hand experience." Her face hardened a little more. "His eyes may not appear such to you, but to me, they appeared jet-black. Should you sight him, do whatever you must to get away. Am I understood?"

Sanae opened her mouth to speak, considered the warning she'd been given, clacked her jaws shut and hesitantly nodded. "A-alright…" she relented.

Shiki nodded. "Please warn Divinities Suwako and Kanako come tomorrow. They'll need to know about him, too," she said. With that, she turned towards the stairs and started walking that way before Komachi stopped her with a hand to her forearm.

Then Komachi wrapped an arm around her boss and hefted her up into a bridal-style carry without effort. "K-Komachi!" Shiki spluttered, legs flailing for a moment before falling still.

"Sorry boss," Komachi muttered apologetically, looking at her boss as she willed herself to fly. "You're still not in prime condition yet." With that, she turned southward of the mountain and flew in that direction.

Reimu lingered back for a moment, still looking at Sanae. "I'll keep an eye on those two. If Aya comes back, tell her the Yama knows something," she said. "Maybe she'll lecture you about the drinking accident another time."

"O-okay…" Sanae muttered, and watched as Reimu nodded before turning to fly after Komachi and her superior. She stood on the grounds for a moment, her gut starting to twist in ways she found unpleasant. The warning tumbled over and over in her head.

The Yama wouldn't lie about something like this, would she? _"Brutal honesty and sinlessness are par for her course,"_ Sanae's inner voice snarked with an air of dread. _"Then again, it sounds like she may have had a bit too much to drink…"_ She took a deep breath as Reimu and her company became indistinct blots in the distance. Then Sanae turned to the Moriya Shrine and sprinted to it, opening her mouth to release a long exhale, following that up with a string of whispered expletives only she could hear.

***

The following day was abysmally slow. Shiki waited in halls of the Ministry, leaning against a wall leading to the courtroom to mitigate the constant stinging from her ankle. She turned to look at it, it's mismatched sock pulled all the way down to reveal cramped-looking bandages wrapped tightly around everything past the shin.

She tapped her good foot first. It responded accordingly. Then, haltingly, the hurt foot followed. Stiffer than yesterday, almost numb at that. Probably because of how cramped the foot was inside a shoe, a sock, and the wrappings all at once. She paid the numbness no mind; certainly better in some regards than having agony shooting through her nerves every time she took a step.

And that, in a strange way, was easier on her healing backside.

Shiki found herself grateful that Reimu had dropped by the previous day. A small smile crept on her face at the thought—stubborn though she was, even Reimu wasn't so bull-headed so as to not help anybody in need of it. And Shiki wouldn't have admitted as much to anybody else without a lecture first; it _was_ Reimu's duty to solve incidents after all, so it just felt… natural to show her the wounds in this case.

She had to repay her one of these days for that. But for now, silent appreciation of her better-dressed wounds was enough to get by through today. She parted from the wall with a wincing effort and started to pace back and forth in front of the doors, figuring that she had better get used to the wrappings until she got better.

Besides, she was in no condition to run or fly right yet. It was best to wait until recovery was finalized before attempting to dig herself into another hole. And so, she paced, keeping her feet level and her posture straight to minimize the chances of tripping.

 _"Now you're being selfish,"_ her inner voice chided harshly. _"Somebody is going to die to his hands, and it's going to be on_ your _record."_ Shiki sighed, legs still moving. As much as she wanted to fight her conscious, it had a tragic point—then again, it was one she couldn't do much about, less so in her current state. All she could do was hold the fort for the time being—itself a stupidly easy task, due to its location.

 _"What if_ you're _forced to sin somehow?"_ her inner voice asked, equal parts skeptical and serious. The question caused Shiki to pause in her pacing, and it made her blood run cold. That… was an uneasy question whose answers were even more elusive than those which were already plaguing her mind.

She sighed, and lifted a hand to rub her temples. _"This is worse than letting Mima attempt to reincarnate before she sprouted wings,"_ she grumbled under her breath.

 _"Perhaps your attacker also reincarnated?"_ her conscious snarked, all pretense of subtlety thrown right out the nearest window.

Shiki shook her head. "Like Hell that's possible," she fired back. She pulled out her Mirror and looked directly into its glass—she was going to have to deal with her inner voice sooner or later, and in a more than unorthodox way. It worked its magic, and as she lowered the reflective glass, she found a reflection of the flesh staring back at her.

The reflection almost immediately donned the characteristic not-so-amused stare. "You do realize that is suicide, even for an immortal Yama, right?" she snapped, her voice dangerously low for a carbon copy that was almost otherwise perfect. In fact, she was near identical to Shiki, save a much darker hair and eye color that seemed to radiate a black aura on top of an outfit whose white parts thereof were instead dark as pitch. The rest of her outfit was inverted in coloration, and her skin horrifically palid, almost a distortion of the Yama.

"I care not for that—I'd just rather an idle chat," Shiki replied, expression, tone, and posture not faltering once as she put the Mirror away.

The reflection raised a brow, but only slightly. "Oh sure you do," she snarked. She strode forward, limping but otherwise alright, face hardening as she approached. "I could kill you without effort."

Shiki did little more than tip her chin knowingly. "As could I," she retorted. "But should I somehow die, you would cease to exist as well."

The reflection smirked wickedly. "True," she conceded, a faint air of haughty smugness in her tone. "A contest of wits strike your fancy?"

Shiki returned the smile, a little wider than that belonging to her summoned doppelganger. "Gladly," she answered. The two started to hobble in a circle, eyes never leaving the other even as they drew their Rods of Remorse simultaneously. Even the doppel's Rod had been twisted; where it was usually golden, it was now a deepest crimson.

"If you clone yourself, then kill the clone… would it still constitute as suicide?" the doppel asked, grinning smugly. She spun her Rod in her hand, letting its tip face downward, where it gleamed with a knife-like sheen.

Shiki did likewise, preparing to parry if needed. "It would not," she answered. "It would instead constitute as murder—for you are killing another sentient. The riddle is self-answering." 

The reflection's smirk widened a smidgen, eyes glinting with a dangerous, glass-like shimmer. She lunged, Rod raised high, but Shiki backed off and swatted her hand away expertly. Once deflected, they returned to walking in a circle, keeping their distance.

Shiki took the opportunity to pop off with a question of her own, "What, above all else, has Marisa not stolen?"

The reflection blinked, yet she did not waver. She pursed her lips and answered carefully, "Above all else, the purity of those whose hearts she's stolen. Admirable, for a lowly _thief._ "

Shiki smirked knowingly. "I beg to differ—she's been in more trysts than either of us could count," she retorted, charging forward with her Rod. The doppelganger jumped away, twisting her head elegantly aside to avoid what would have otherwise been a lethal stab to the face. Both gained a meager few feet of distance from their adversary, still circling calmly and with utmost calculation.

"Including your purity?" the double snarked.

Shiki shook her head. "No, for she has yet to steal my heart," she affirmed.

The double's smirk widened dangerously. Mimicking injuries or not, it was still a disheartening expression that few would rarely see on a Yama's face. Such a smile on such a face was unnerving—more so for Shiki, though she refused to let her unease show. "Would fondling your own clone count as sexual battery?" the double asked.

Shiki's smirk twitched. She had to reign her lungs in before the laughter could escape; even then, a dry wheeze managed to slip through those cracks. "Yes, unless it were consensual—however, either way, it would also constitute as a sin," she retorted. "Because, seriously, unless it's Hecatia doing it, who in Gensokyo would clone and then molest themselves?" 

The double snorted and rolled her eyes emphatically. "She doesn't count—she does whatever she pleases," she pointed out, reading her Rod for another charge. She raised it high and ran forward, but tripped on her own hurt ankle and promptly faceplanted to the ground.

"That's why I included _'unless'_ in that statement," Shiki snarked, smirking as her clone got back to her feet, swaying unsteadily for a moment before regaining balance. "Even black and white has an **Exception** to the general rulings. You know that as well as I. As well as any self-respecting Yama."

"Exception or not, it's still inexcusable," the clone hissed, charging forward yet again. Shiki blocked the incoming Rod simply by raising her free hand to clutch the wrist of her opponent, stopping the point of the improvised weapon just an inch shy of her left eye. With a hard shove that sent both stumbling back, she broke the lock.

"Most things we consider inexcusable, Hecatia doesn't give a rat's ass about, in her language," Shiki cut in. She charged this time, aiming for the double's heart, but she was deflected and sent back with ease. "But what _you_ don't care to learn, Inverse-Eiki, is that Hecatia's heart is in the right place regardless, and she works even now to atone for her myriad of sins."

Inverse-Eiki snarled, and not just at the embarrassing moniker her summoner had given unto her. "Heart? Right place? Since when could you ever say that about yourself?" she snapped.

Shiki grinned triumphantly. "Well, I could launch into a lecture about that, but that would be overtly narcissistic of me, and even I have my limits regarding that," she stated firmly. Before Inverse-Eiki could react, she charged again, and jabbed the Rod of Remorse into her double's face with just enough force to shatter her. Only the crumbling dust echoed through the hall; the twisted copy didn't even have the time to scream. "And that is that," Shiki announced, sighing as she moved to lean against the wall again, stowing her Rod away in case it was needed again.

Silence only held for a few more minutes before she heard footsteps approaching from opposite the courtroom doors. She turned in that direction, and found Komachi striding up to her, a small frown on her face. "Boss, you fought your reflection _again?_ " she asked in exasperation, looking pointedly at the lingering dust that was left over from the brief scuffle.

Shiki nodded. "Without suffering any injuries this time," she replied. "I swear, every time I summon my reflection, she just has to ask the dumbest questions."

Komachi rolled her eyes and shook her head, the gesture all but screaming 'this better be good.' "What did she spout this time?" she asked.

Shiki was unable to suppress a laugh. "If killing a clone of myself would constitute suicide, for one," she answered. That made Komachi's frown shift into a small grin.

"Pff-wha?" Komachi croaked out, her voice unusually high-pitched as the half-formed question left her mouth.

"Yes. She actually asked that," Shiki said, still grinning for a moment before her face hardened. "Anymore souls to be judged today?"

Komachi, after taking a moment to stop herself from doing nothing more than snorting, gestured to the empty space behind her. "No luck," she announced. "Sanzu's as still as the grave, and that's saying much."

Shiki nodded. "So, since we're stuck doing nothing else for the moment—I'd really rather not hear Inverse-Eiki's colorful language so soon after her newest defeat—what do you propose we should do?" she asked.

Komachi's face brightened. "See if Reimu's found anything?" she asked in turn.

Shiki smiled again, though it was a small smile. "Sounds about right," she agreed. "Let us hope she has found worthwhile information without any unnecessary tangles." The two walked down the hall, and Shiki noted that she couldn't hear Inverse-Eiki snarking in the back of her head anymore.

Even so, her point still stood. Her question, too, was still as valid as any.

***

Of course, due to her hurt ankle, Shiki had to piggyback on Komachi the moment they got out of Hell and disembarked from the Sanzu—face red to the ears in mortified embarrassment as she was airlifted to the shrine grounds. At least the distance manipulation made the trip as short as possible, even accounting for that setback. They landed just past the torii without incident, and parted and dusted themselves off before regaining their composure and striding up to the shrine with their customary bravado. As they neared the door, though, they paused upon hearing a triad of voices bickering quite loudly from within the living room.

"Can't say I don't know anything, ze," a brash, tomboyish voice explained. "This is entirely new to me."

"I've felt a strange presence as of late," a demure, lady-like voice chimed in, "but I could not find the source, Reimu. I couldn't tell you if it was the man you say attacked the Yama or not."

"Strange?" Reimu asked, quizzical in tone. Shiki and Komachi shared glances, hesitant to enter. "How would… you define it, Alice?"

"It's… neither wholly here, nor there, as it were—think of Youmu, except just her ghost half being present," Alice responded, a tired sigh leaving her lips. "Further… it has different thaumaturgical energies stranger than anything I've ever known—even Makai pales in comparison."

"So, super-strong magically?" Reimu guessed, an air of dread in her tone that wasn't there before.

Shiki could almost hear Alice nodding. "Or at the least, alien in nature. It's like asking Marisa to do a defensive spell—something I'd never thought to say or sense in my lifetime," she said.

"And I have no defensive magics to speak of," Marisa chimed in, followed by the sound of something slamming onto a wooden surface. "You think it may be an outsider?"

"If it were, Yukari would have told us by now," Reimu pointed out. "Marisa, have you asked Rinnosuke about it?"

"Again, first I've heard of it," Marisa repeated, slightly exasperated this time. "I'll ask once I get the chance."

Shiki, at that point, mustered up the courage to knock. The conversation within ground to a halt. "Who is it?" Reimu called.

"It's me, Eiki," Shiki called. "Komachi's with me."

A sigh escaped from the confines of the shrine. "Come in," Reimu beckoned. Shiki opened the door and found Reimu at the table once again, this time accompanied by two guests, but once again sans tea set. She and Komachi strode to the table, sat down, and got themselves comfortable.

Marisa and Alice flinched at the limp Shiki was unable to hide. A tense silence overtook the shrine for a minute. "Whoa, you okay?" Marisa asked, brow furrowing.

"A little better than yesterday," Shiki replied. "Still sore, but I can manage."

Reimu nodded, concern showing on her face. "That's good to hear," she said as sincerely as she could. Shiki offered her a tiny smile in return, and Komachi gave a thumbs-up. "Judgement of souls on halt?"

Shiki shook her head. "Not on halt so much as none to judge," she answered. "I'm still on the lookout for anything… replicating and resembling the first murder." She turned to Marisa and Alice. "I take it you two were well-informed already?" Garnering twin nods, she allowed herself to ease a little. Marisa took off her hat, reached into it, and pulled out a rolled-up newspaper before plopping it on the table where it promptly unfurled.

"Yeah; Aya just gave this to me for free this morning," Marisa grumbled. "She'd normally ask for ten yen, but…" Shiki leaned over and pulled the paper towards herself with a steady, careful hand, idly considering the 'for free' part in Marisa's mumbling. The headline was the first of many things that struck out at her, partly due to the wordplay.

**"MURDER IN YOUKAI FOREST, CULPRIT STILL AT LARGE  
TREES FELLED AROUND CRIME SCENE—AN ONI'S DOING, PERHAPS?"**

Shiki barely suppressed a snort. "Ah, still in her style, as always," she muttered. Then she did another look-see at the header title, brow furrowing. She skimmed through the article, a frown worming its way onto her face. "... she's got nothing, either…" she said, voice low and dismayed.

Komachi leaned over to skim as well, and when she reached the end of the article, she lifted a hand and palm met face. "Hell's bells… even she's been blindsided…" she grumbled.

Marisa put her hat back on her head, likewise frowning. "Maybe it's just a one-time thing," she suggested, immediately garnering a very strange look from Shiki. Her brows were creased, trying to mash against each other without much success, her frown was twisting into something half-open and lopsided, and her pupils shrank in the span of a second. "What?"

Shiki closed her eyes, lifted a hand, and clasped the bridge of her nose with a sigh escaping her lips. "I'm not so certain it would be that—seeing as we're just looking at the very start of trouble," she grumbled.

"As things stand, it could still go either way. Even you're not clairvoyant in matters that may not happen at all, discounting your position," Alice piped up.

Shiki dropped her hand and nodded gravely at that tragic point. "Only pattern recognition and years and years of experience is my strong suit in such matters, and this is highly irregular," she conceded. "A fairy actually managed to _die_ to be judged, and that's just the first thing I find baffling…"

"In a lengthening list longer than your bandages," Komachi added as an aside. Shiki nodded again, seeing no need to call out that comparison—as far as she was concerned, that was an accurate metaphor for the situation at hand. "I mean, when was the last time you saw something like this?"

Shiki paused to consider her answer. After a second of scouring through her memory thoroughly, she gave a terse and blunt reply, "Never." She shifted to ease up on her ankle again; only now was it starting to complain with waves of slightly duller pain. Another wince raced up her spine, but that was the signal for the numbness to return. "Discounting the early, early wars between human and youkai, but I digress," she added. "Back then, I wasn't even a Yama until a decade after that whole debacle's first layer dust had finally settled—and I had seen multiple wars after that, until the Barrier had been put up."

Marisa perked up at that. "You weren't?" she parroted.

Shiki nodded. "Newly-born tsukumogami, of the jizo-statue variant," she replied. "Ascended to my current form after the last bits of the first war's… ultimate climax were cleared up." She sighed wearily, memories of times long past dancing in her head before they were promptly reshelved. "It wasn't a good time for anybody." She shuddered.

Marisa grinned in spite of the information. "So that's why you're such a hardass?" she chirped.

Shiki gave Marisa a small smile; that wasn't so much an insult as it was, plain and simply, truth. "I… guess you could say that," she answered.

Marisa gave out a wheezing laugh at the reply. _"O-oh wow,"_ she squeezed out as a fit of the mad giggles shook her, _"wh-who'd've known the Yama was a war veteran?!"_

"I was a noncombatant back then, Marisa," Shiki added, still smiling. "First thing I learned how to do was use the legs my long-dead sculptor gave me to run for cover." She sighed wistfully. "New youkai were particularly vulnerable back then."

Alice grinned. "... that explains a lot," she muttered.

Reimu nodded. "And I take it fairies died way back then, too?" she asked.

Shiki assumed her neutral expression again, nodding in turn. "Of course, it wasn't permanent, save a… select few instances. And I got to judge those cases—and back then, I was inexperienced with my power," she said.

Marisa laughed harder, her mind now filled with the mental images of a Yama nearly bungling judgement. "I-I'm sorry," she sputtered, still wheezing, "it's just… now I can't…"

"Imagine all the ways it could _not_ go wrong, but did anyway?" Shiki guessed. Marisa bobbed her head and dropped onto the table, letting the last wheezing gales out of her system.

Alice's grin faded. "So… back to the topic at hand," she muttered, lifting a hand to pat Marisa on the back as she kept face firmly on table. "To reiterate: this isn't something you've seen in a long, long time?"

Shiki nodded. That was all the answer she needed to give.

"And you're now keeping your eyes peeled for a repeat?" Alice continued.

Another mute nod answered her.

"Something you haven't _felt_ for a long time—namely, an unnamed, unplaced fear?" Alice continued. "Reimu mentioned something about that earlier, before you waltzed in."

A third nod followed in swift order, and Shiki made no effort to hide the emphatic urgency of the motion.

"... you're suspecting a resurgence of some sort?" Alice guessed.

Shiki shook her head that time. "No… though I haven't exactly ruled such a possibility out, either. That, and we've sort of already _had_ a youkai uprising to start with, so I doubt the mischievous ones would try anything as bold as this so soon," she said. "However, this could mean that my attacker may be a walking remnant of those early wars—however, as I do not know him, nor could I read him, I cannot say for certain if such is the case." She paused, brows trying to build another bridge to no avail. "He may simply be a new breed of youkai."

"Still an incident instigator either way," Reimu pointed out, frowning sourly.

"That said… I overheard something about sensing magical energies," Shiki began, turning her attention onto Alice. "Could you… craft some sort of spell or doll to detect him, by chance?"

Alice shook her head and crossed her arms. "I'd have to sense him again first, just to memorize the signature—if that was him I picked up to begin with," she stated, a slight hiss in her words. "And crafting spells to pick up on that signature is hard work—more along the lines of what Patchouli would do."

Shiki snorted. _"Shoulda seen that coming,"_ she heard Inverse-Eiki snark in the back of her head.

"So, what, we get Patchy up here?" Komachi suggested.

"If Remilia allows it," Alice muttered with a shrug. "And chances are she won't if she hears of this."

 _"Damnit,"_ Inversek-Eiki hissed within the confines of Shiki's mind.

 _"I concur,"_ Shiki mentally agreed, a reluctant nod supplicating the thought.


	4. IV- Nameless Threat

It wasn't all that often that Eirin Yagokoro had an unusual medical case plopped at her feet. Granted, Gensokyo by virtue of existence was unusual due to the way it operated, and she herself undoubtedly one of its more unusual residents. However, that strangeness kept itself out of her medical troubles for the most part, leaving her with sickly humans bearing various ailments requiring one procedure or another medicine to fix up. Sometimes, youkai would come to her for her services for the same exact reason, but all in all things were relatively orderly even then.

Until tonight, anyway. She sat in a patient's room, studying the patient in bed intently, Tewi Inaba fretting and fussing silently opposite of the bed. "Reisin… what happened?" Tewi asked slowly, fear creeping into her tone.

Reisen, who had an arm and a leg bound in a cast each, silently shivered on the bed with wide and distant eyes. Her clothes… well, they were gone to put it mildly; in their place was a blanket that she held rigidly to her chest with her one good hand. Bruises adorned her body, as did several small lacerations which suggested a rather nasty danmaku duel that quickly went south. Tear-streaks at least an hour old dotted her face, though only one as experienced as Eirin could still make out their paths. Bloody handprints adorned her shoulders, completing her haggard look. "Reisen, what happened?" Tewi repeated.

Eirin shook her head, keeping her eyes on Reisen. "She's probably in shock," she muttered grimly. "It may be a while yet before we hear any of what had happened." She'd seen her fair share of patients lashing out in unbearable agony, and if she had anything to say about it, she'd keep Reisen from joining those ranks. Her voice firmed, only slightly, "Udongein… let us know if you need anything, alright?" The only response she got was a shaky, mute nod that was more jittery than her hand.

"I'll stay with her... " Tewi muttered, watching as Eirin nodded and turned rather reluctantly to the door of the room. Wordlessly, Eirin walked to the door, opened it, went out of the room and into a hall, finding multiple doors on either side. She gently closed door of the room she'd left behind her, and turned east to find a gathering of earth rabbits hovering around another few paces off. All wore bloodied gloves and pale expressions, eyes wide and mouths moving a mile a minute.

Eirin looked closer. Sweat dotted the group's foreheads, and they too were suffering from a case of the shaky hands. Though by no means as bad off as Reisen was, with how subdued their mannerisms were, it was still enough to be disconcerting. Still enough to be noticeable.

It was as if they'd walked out of a nightmare.

Clenching and unclenching her fist, Eirin approached the small brigade, clearing her throat to hush their clamor and let them know she was there. "Is the autopsy done?" she asked, softly to avoid startling the rabbits too much.

One hastily nodded. "Was… one of our own does. A-a younger one," she muttered in reply. "D… do you wish to…"

Eirin's face hardened. "I would _very much,_ " she began, wincing as the statement left a foul aftertaste on her tongue, "like to see it for myself." The rabbits parted and opened the door for her, letting her inside without issue. Within was a simple room, housing only a large table, basic surgical tools on a side-table, and a fresh carcass on said table. It was an earth rabbit, bloodied and torn almost beyond all possible recognition. The only things that remained intact were the ears and tail, though both were caked in blood.

The rest… Eirin suppressed a shiver and approached the body. She circled the larger table slowly, considering the evidence before her. The rabbit's chest and abdominal regions were distinctly devoid of internal organs; in fact, a massive hole had been torn into both with enough force to leave several broken bones poking out of flayed muscle. Arms and legs had been forcibly parted from torso and hips at some point, leaving craters where they used to be. The back was arched like a bow—leaving head and shredded groin to support the rest of the body.

Whatever had slaughtered the poor rabbit left this as their calling card—of that, she was certain. Her fist clenched again. The rabbit didn't deserve this—did nothing to deserve it. What, then, led to the aftermath that was now laying upon the table? Had it, in some way, been intentional? An accident? One person? Or was this the work of several acting in tandem?

The remains themselves all pointed to a thousand different unsavory scenarios, each rushing through Eirin's head with tip-top clarity. She stepped towards the carcass to examine it closer, leaning over the table and looking for inconsistencies—she could at least do that much, before burying the remains. It wasn't a lot, in fact only a small and possibly fruitless step towards justice… but she hoped it would be enough.

The rabbit's eyes, long since glazed in dried red, stared listlessly at the door as Eirin moved to examine. Still, through the scarlet, Eirin could make out shrunken pupils and irises, though that took a lot of careful scrutinizing to achieve. Rolled as far back as they could go, paired with a wide open mouth gave Eirin the impression that this one had screamed in her dying moments. Given the painful manner in which she was now positioned, Eirin couldn't blame the rabbit if such was the case.

Once the agonized expression was taken into account, Eirin lifted a hand and closed the doe's eyes by pressing on the eyelids and pinching them ever so slightly. "May the Yama judge you fairly…" she muttered somberly. With that, she circled the table again, studying the horrific cavities that remained. The longer she looked, the less she found—because there was little to work with. Outside, she heard the rabbits muttering, and a few starting to hiccup.

She paused upon hearing the first whimper. Even though she had seen much, as demanded her profession… she still couldn't keep those aches of empathy from striking deep within. She took another look at the doe's face, making out tear-stains almost drowned out by blood.

Eirin drew a shuddering breath, and turned to the massive chest-cavity. That was when she noticed something odd—the pelvic bone had been sticking out in a myriad of wrong places. A hip had been snapped backwards, poking out where the left leg was once attached. She studied the broken bone, and saw deep indents stretching across the frayed flesh that managed to show cracked white beneath them.

"Strong individual… scooped out internals, likely by hand…" Eirin muttered, almost on instinct. Years of medical work helped her to piece the gruesome puzzle together. Once she had memorized the necessary bits, she turned and walked out of the door, right into the clamoring rabbits again. She looked at them, gently shutting the door behind her, seeing one had already started trembling. "... bury her tomorrow," she said softly. "I will tend to Reisen in the meantime."

The rabbits nodded, the one who was trembling hiccuping again. Eirin turned to that one and gently patted her head. "Tell me… was Reisen screaming when you found her?" she asked. The shaking rabbit nodded again.

"And… she activated…" the rabbit mumbled in a hushed voice, eyes going distant for a second. "Wouldn't stop… until Tewi came over…"

Eirin frowned slightly at that. Now she had a very good idea of what scared this batch of rabbits that bad. "... in that case… you get the week off to recover from the Lunatic Eyes," she said, softly. She moved her hand to gently scratch behind the rabbit's ears, turning to the rest of the troop. "Did anybody else look into her eyes?" She garnered several head-shakes in response. "One of you accompany this one for the week; there's a good chance after-effects could manifest."

She removed hand from rabbit and watched as the shaking one ran down the hall, another less-shaken member of the troop shadowing along after her fleeing footsteps. Eirin nodded to the remaining rabbits. "Keep everyone else from disturbing… the dead doe, please, if you can." With that, she walked along to Reisen's room—only to blink when she turned to the west end of the hall and saw two more rabbits running down it towards her. Stranger still, they were accompanied by Youmu and Yuyuko, both of whom were walking rather briskly.

Eirin halted before she could get to her intended door. "What happened?" she asked.

Youmu's face hardened. "Yukari came to Hakugyokurou and told us we've got another incident on our hands!" she said.

"And then threw us into a gap that took us here," Yuyuko added, voice oddly dry and soft. "Told us to come see you."

Eirin's eyes narrowed. "Incident?" she repeated, tensing up.

Youmu nodded, seeing Eirin was now on edge. "Yes… that's what we were told," she answered. "And as far as she knows… Reimu's looking into it. Yukari said she'd look elsewhere to cover for what Reimu doesn't."

 _Even better._ "Great. All of Gensokyo will be in on it by the week's end if Yukari's decided to get off of her sleeping schedule," Eirin grumbled. "Do either of you know anything else?"

Youmu and Yuyuko shook their heads. Fantastic. "Very well then. Let me know if you find anything," Eirin said. With that, she turned and opened the door to enter Reisen's room, making sure to close her eyes in case Reisen were to jerk and activate her Eyes again. Youmu and Yuyuko watched her walk in, and leaned into the doorway to see Reisen lift her shaking head.

"Um…" Youmu began, quickly noticing how terrible Reisen looked. "Did a danmaku duel go wrong?"

Eirin shook her head, striding up to the bedridden rabbit. "No—whatever has happened, it wasn't the result of a danmaku duel," she answered bluntly. "I'm still trying to discern the cause myself."

Reisen shifted to lay down, still shaking. Tewi moved to rub Reisen's shoulder, garnering a wince upon contact, and immediately pulled back upon seeing the flinch of pain. Youmu looked to Yuyuko, frowning in concern. "Um… should we leave them be?" she asked.

Yuyuko nodded, turning to the still-assembled mob of bloodied-glove rabbits down the hall. She sniffed the air with her nose, eyes narrowing slightly. Iron managed to taint the air, mixed with just a hint of sakura blossom. She sniffed again to confirm the scent was there, and wordlessly walked over to the rabbits. Youmu followed, though not before closing the door to give Reisen a bit of privacy. "Lady Yuyuko…?" Youmu muttered.

Yuyuko simply tried to wave the mob aside with a gentle hand, though they didn't budge, much less open the door. The scent, faint though it was, did grow stronger as she neared the door. She turned to a rabbit. "May I see what's within this room?" she asked.

"But… we were told…" the rabbit started, stopping when Yuyuko shook her head.

"Listen… I smell _death,_ and I've seen my fair share of mutilated souls in the Netherworld," Yuyuko said, though she kept her voice gentle. "Whatever is beyond… will not traumatize me, or induce any nightmares." Her face hardened a little. "If nothing else, I wish to disprove what my nose is telling me." The rabbits nodded and parted to let her open the door. In Yuyuko went, face darkening as she did.

Within five seconds, she returned with a disembodied soul tucked under one arm, closing the door behind her with her other hand. The soul did not move or resist, instead hanging rather limply. She turned to Youmu. "Where's the ferryman when you need her?" Yuyuko asked, voice darkening to match her face.

Youmu shook her head. "I… I don't know…" she muttered apologetically.

Yuyuko sighed. "Youmu, dear, get me a piece of paper and something to write with…" she ordered.

Youmu stiffened. "W-why?"

Yuyuko's face darkened a little more, and it seemed her eyes were glowing. "We're going to leave a little something on someone's doorstep tonight," she muttered.

***

That same night, Komachi and Shiki departed from the Hakurei Shrine to get some rest and to catch up on whatever work needed doing in the meantime. They bid a good evening to Reimu before leaving, and flew over the Human Village without incident. Gensokyo was oddly quiet tonight, with only the howling of the wind and the faint chirping of insects to be heard over the flapping of Komachi's dress.

Shiki, once again piggybacking out of necessity, eyed Gensokyo as the full moon bathed the land in its silver light. Tonight, all seemed calm and serene—something, ironically enough, further given a modicum of credence by the moonlight. She knew better than to assume such, however; though, there was that one tiny part of her that still admired the scenery for what it was. And oh stars above, that tiny fragment of her—that which had been with her since her very first transformation, since she was first sculpted all those years ago—just would not stop babbling at all there was to look at.

Shiki was content to let that tiny fragment go on and on. _"The Bamboo Forest of the Lost looks so gorgeous tonight! And—oh! I think I see the Myouren Temple! If only I could fly and get closer to it!"_ And that was just the start of a long list of remarks from that childish side of her. If nothing else, that child-like part of her was far more energetic than Inverse-Eiki's sordid musings could hope to be. That, and it helped the tension just roll off her shoulders and down her back, where she sensed it plummeting to the land down below. 

Of course, said child-like part also ignored the fact that there was still an unsolved incident going on. Shiki, however, would not reprimand that side of her for it—whether she liked it or not, everybody's mind wandered from time to time, and strange facets of everyday personas tended to emerge when left to one's own devices. It was simply a fact of life, regardless of one's position in it, and she was no different. And for all her technobabble when in the midst of lecturing someone's ears to the Lunarian Capital and back, she shifted to nestle on the back of Komachi's neck as drowsiness started to take hold, not caring for once if such a gesture was appropriate.

Komachi slowed a little, feeling a nose and cheek lightly poking at her spine. "Tuckered out?" she guessed. She felt Shiki nodding rather lazily against her, grumbling something unintelligible. Smiling softly, Komachi stifled a giggle as her boss tightened her grip to compensate for her sleepiness. "Guess I'll see you to bed then." That drew a snort from Shiki, and Komachi snickered as the Sanzu came into view in the distance.

"I can get to bed myself," Shiki grumbled, a hint of exasperation in her sleepy tone. "But thank you for the offer."

Komachi rolled her eyes, smile widening. "Okay," she chirped, hearing and feeling a yawn leave her boss's mouth. 

"Wake me… if something… happens…" Shiki muttered, closing her eyes as Komachi nodded. She opted to land a distance away from the Human Village, now a tiny speck behind them, and began walking the rest of the way homeward. The soft landing, and slow speed, were so slight that Shiki did not stir in response, instead simply grumbling something about pastry buns.

Despite the lax nature of her boss as she dozed, Komachi couldn't help but wonder if, perhaps, the tussle with Inverse-Eiki had drained her on some level. It was possible, wounded as she was… but, all the same she'd just have to ask at a later time. Right now, her priority was getting her boss back home and tucked into bed. In the distance, opposite the Youkai Mountain, Komachi saw Nameless Hill cresting along into view with a small outcropping of forest surrounding its foot. Further ahead, though she had to squint her eyes to see it, was the Road of Liminality.

Komachi smirked again, before a sudden chill crept down her spine as she turned to Nameless Hill again. Standing atop it was a distant figure, and she again had to squint to tell it was even there at all. Something… dark wafted from it, though from her vantage point, she couldn't discern what it was or if it was her imagination. Faintly, she could hear a distorted voice calling out, carried only by the wind, "The fairy didn't know… nor did that stupid…"

Then, the wind hushed, drowning out what came after. Komachi could've sworn she heard 'Yama' in there somewhere though, and icy prickles shot through her skin as she felt Shiki shifting. She began walking a lot more briskly, manipulating distance in an effort to go by undetected. Some part of her hoped that was just a lost local, or an outsider who was crazy enough to want to get lectured, rather than whom her mind immediately jumped to. As she sped-walked away onto the Road of Liminality, she noticed that she could feel the ground shaking faintly, though the tremors were miniscule and before long faded away altogether.

Within a minute, Nameless Hill all but vanished behind her, and the Sanzu came into sight at the same time. Yet still, an uneasy feeling settled in Komachi's gut again, though it was mitigated by Shiki as she mumbled about rice paper. She seemed to never notice that something was slightly amiss, just dozing away peacefully. Passing by some simple wagons that rolled past, whose owners were towing them along either by hand or steed, Komachi took time out of her night to call to the caravan. "Avoid Nameless Hill; turn to the Scarlet Devil Mansion if you can," she warned.

A night sparrow, flying and pulling a wagon at the same time, looked at Komachi skeptically. "Is that a threat?" she asked.

Komachi shook her head. "Sensed something really bad hanging around the Hill," she answered simply. She noted the night sparrow looking at her sleeping boss and added, "And boss just collapsed on the way here. Stay safe."

The night sparrow nodded and proceeded to take point of ahead the rest of the wagon-bearing group. "You guys heard the shinigami," she said, to much clamoring that once again failed to rouse Shiki from slumber. Komachi was half-tempted to watch and make sure the group followed her instructions, but kept pressing on once they veered due northeast with a threat from the sparrow. "I'll wake her up with my singing," she said. "And we don't want a cranky Yama."

Shiki stirred a little, burying her face in Komachi's hair as the caravan vanished like Nameless Hill had. "No… don't want your… your… your weird stick…" she grumbled. "Take that stick… and shove it… where the nuclear sun don't shine…"

Komachi's cheeks puffed as she struggled to keep from laughing. Some part of her really wanted to know what the Hell her boss was dreaming about, though another had already half-formed a rather disturbing image and then left it in a blazing campfire soon after. But, with a few wheezes escaping, she managed to quell that thought in a bottle to be opened another day, and reached the Sanzu once silence had settled.

But she stopped before reaching the pier proper, eyes widening. Something unmoving had been left on the pier itself, bathed in the moonlit mist of the river. Yet, once again, the Sanzu itself was as silent as the grave. For a minute, she stood still, the only movement to be had coming from her still-sleeping boss, before hesitantly walking to the pier.

What she came across gave her lengthy pause. Words failed her; she had to use all of her willpower to keep holding onto Shiki, who was still sleeping obliviously to what was mere feet from her.

Komachi could do little but stare. Red-dusted eyes, ethereal and distant, stared back listlessly. "... sweet Makai," she muttered, the words themselves coming out in a choked whisper. Her legs stiffened as the staring contest continued, neither blinking as time seemed to freeze.

It took seconds for Komachi to falter first, stumbling around the anomaly which had her speechless. She walked to the boat, clambered in, set Shiki down onto it and turned to kneel next to her. Hand flew to shoulder and shook, and Shiki grumbled with a tight frown as she rose. "Komachi…" she muttered.

"Boss, 'nother soul," Komachi said simply. "Gonna have to put you on the boat for a sec… okay?" Shiki let her sleep-addled brain process that, then nodded with a small yawn escaping her.

"Just… make it quick…" Shiki muttered. Komachi nodded and clambered back onto the pier to study the suspiciously still soul that had somehow arrived before she did. That was when she noticed a glowing blue butterfly sitting on… well, more like _in_ the soul with wings folded up and holding some sort of folded paper.

Komachi tenderly bent over to pluck the parchment. She unfurled it with one hand, brow furrowing as the moonlight cast its glow onto this discovery. Handwritten words stretched before her, formed impeccably in perfect sync. As Komachi began to read, the glowing butterfly flitted away from the soul, heading skyward to parts unknown.

**"Dear Ferryman and Yamaxanadu,**

**It has come to our attention, thanks to a certain sage of boundaries, that we're in the midst of an incident—past that, we know not what to look for. Further, we have been informed that you're both tangled within it, so if it would not inconvenience you in any manner, we would very much appreciate a visit to the Netherworld for some idea as to what is going on at present."**

Komachi frowned, and kept reading on.

**"Thus, we will be keeping our eye on things, as will the Boundary Sage. So will all of Eintei, for that matter—we've just informed them of what we have heard, and discovered one of their rabbits has been… brutalized, simply put, and another found herself torn asunder. The soul of said torn rabbit was as immobile as her earthly body… or what remained of it, I should say.**

**So my gardener and I have taken up the task of moving the soul to the Sanzu ourselves, free of charge, on the grounds concerning your particular vocations. Apologies for any confusion in advance; I wish not to misdirect, merely to help. Should this keep up… I dread to think of what will happen.**

**Stay. Alert. I do not write this lightly. That is all I can say on this matter.**

**I truly hope you two heed it.**

**Sincerely,**

**Yuyuko Saigyouji, Princess of the Netherworld"**

Komachi folded the letter back up and tucked it in her apron. She turned back to the soul after, and made to ask for spiritual wealth when the soul gave a groan of distress. She turned back to Shiki, who stumbled back out of the boat and shuffled over to see what was going on. One look told her all she'd needed to know.

They exchanged a glance. "Komachi… I sincerely do not think this one is capable of procuring spiritual wealth," Shiki said, voice soft yet weighted enough to carry across the Sanzu nonetheless.

"Should I still ferry this one?" Komachi asked, frown deepening. The soul gave another groan, dry and raspy and toneless. It tried to move its stiff form, but only managed a jerk slight enough to butt against Shiki's shin. "We can't leave it either way."

Shiki nodded, managing another yawn. "Just… bring a crate and stay outside the court for this one," she answered, turning to the soul in time to see it spit out a coin with another groan. "And as for spiritual wealth… I stand corrected."

Komachi nodded, bent over to pick up the coin, and tucked it in her apron before picking up the soul and hefting it over her shoulder. She shuddered as a gooey sensation started crawling down her arm with the act, thick and sticky and half-solidified and half-evaporating. It almost felt as if her arm was trying to become something else, and that made her stomach twist some more. With a grunt, she walked over to the boat and plopped the soul into it, making sure to lay it backside-down.

And she sailed across the Sanzu after, Shiki oddly tagging behind via flying.

***

The trip home was a silent one. Shiki could barely shuffle from the Ministry, after judging the most recent soul that was plopped on the proverbial doorstep. She leaned against Komachi, eyes fluttering open and shut with each step. Komachi wordlessly wrapped a hand around her boss's shoulders for support, steadying her as the few denizens of Hell who were out and about at this time gave them questioning looks. Komachi shook her head with each stare, wearing a neutral face as they approached a small building on the outskirts of one of Hell's many roads going into the nearest city. It wasn't particularly fancy, nor any larger than the Hakurei Shrine, with a simple curved roof and a blue-painted wooden fence that kept it isolated from the other houses. It was painted black and white, and the sliding door that Komachi opened had rattled and groaned in protest.

Inside, was a singular room, fitted with the most basic of necessities—a kotatsu merged with two futons, a very simple furnace, some shelves and a wooden sink filled with cleaned dishes, blankets and pillows for said kotatsu and futons, some candelabras for minimal lighting and a stack of papers adorning a small side table. Isolated by crude walls was a simple bathroom, and to one side of the kotatsu was a small shelf housing a meager collection of books and a small, closed wardrobe. Past that, the place was barren—and yet, at the sight, Shiki smiled and sauntered on to the kotatsu.

Komachi watched her intently, and shifted to close the door behind her when Shiki made the trip without tripping. She moved to the table with papers and shuffled through the stack, keeping her eyes from drifting as she heard clothes rustling. 

"Let's see…" Komachi muttered, voice hushed as she studiously picked up a paper and read through the first third of it. "No, we do not need a Shackle of Reconsideration…" That went to one side, and the one beneath it underwent a scrutinizing gaze. "Hrm… rent… hundred yen… I'll pay that tomorrow…" That went to the other side of the stack, away from the first paper. The third paper made her nose wrinkle as she looked at it. "Why would you want to sell us Muenzuka? Nobody's gonna live there in a thousand years…" To the first paper that went.

"Muenzuka? Who'd be stupid enough to sell _that?_ " Shiki asked incredulously, the rustling of clothes halting with the question.

Komachi shrugged, not bothering to take her eyes off the fourth paper. Concern started to glimmer in her eyes, and a tight frown formed on her face as she studied the parchment almost religiously. "Some clod working for the Seventh Division of Hell," she muttered after a minute of silence. "Probably watches the Forest of Suicides."

"Aaaaaaah, those people. They'd probably make Cirno look like a genius," Shiki grumbled. The rustling of cloth resumed.

"What do you expect?" Komachi pointed out. When Shiki did not reply, she scanned the paper once again, and set that apart from the other two before picking up parchment number five. "... okay… utilities… pay that tomorrow." To the rent bill's place with that one. And the last paper of the stack was lifted and looked at. "... Boss, somebody's trying to drag us to the Second Division's newest strip club," she grumbled, face heating up.

"... what?" Shiki asked, voice as flat as the tabletop.

"Exactly," Komachi answered, putting that paper on top of the other two adverts they'd received. She picked up the lonesome paper, stood up, and turned to her boss, finding her in a simple translucent kimono that revealed a simple sarashi overlaid on top of the bandages covering her wounds, and another layer covering her groin. Komachi stepped over and handed her the paper, stomach twisting as she waited for her boss to read it.

Shiki took the hint and looked at the parchment, brows trying to make another bridge with no luck as she beheld a newspaper very much like the _Bunbunmaru_ sort, except with pictures instead of bold titles and relevant information kept to tiny boxes. The picture itself had captured several destroyed jizo-statues, all missing limbs and clothes, littering an unidentifiable building that had long since crumbled. The statues, strangely enough, had seemingly produced blood which stained them a bright, uniform red.

"What is this?" Shiki asked, eyes narrowing the slightest bit as she studied the article. She turned to the tiny box of information, and an eye began to twitch as she absorbed what it had to offer.

**Several jizo-statues have been vandalized and left along the road leading to a house some humans speculate to have once been a mansion. In addition, further autopsy has revealed they were coated with the blood of several unidentified persons. The culprit is unknown and still at large at this time.**

Below that, though, was something scrawled across the paper in bright red—messy, almost illegible, rivers connecting the words above and beneath in a crude display more reminiscent of a massive ink splatter splashed to obscure the rest of the information. Shiki's breath hitched in her throat as she read it, discerning letters from rivers to form a clear message.

**"Do you want to meet their fate, Yamaxanadu?  
**

**I can make that happen, you know. **  
****

**Until you show yourself to me… ******

**things will get worse for everyone.**  


**Do what is right… or I shall, for you.**  


**Either way is fine with me.**  


**You will pay dearly for what you have done.**  


**So will all of Gensokyo if it comes to that."**

The longer she stared at the scrawling, the colder her blood began to run. "Wh-wh…" Her hand began to shake, and she almost dropped the paper. Reaching the bottom of the page, her heart nearly stopped cold at what was written beneath it.

**"Unless, of course, you do as I say.  
**

**You don't want Gensokyo to be destroyed… do you?**  


**Just as you helped build it up…**  


**I will tear it all down."**

****

****

Komachi watched as, slowly, Shiki's pupils started to shrink. "K-Komachi… th-the…" Shiki stammered, her eyes locked onto the vandalized newspaper. "Wh-who… who s-sent this…"

Komachi shook her head. "Dunno… but I think we'd better keep that," she replied, voice soft but dismayed. "If nothing else, the threat's probably empty. If it isn't… well, we've got evidence of intent right there."

Shiki nodded and drew a deep breath through her nose, handing the paper back to Komachi. "One of the Limbo Fiends must've done it," she said, fear melting into discontent as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You think Yukari might've done it?" Komachi proposed, ambling over to the wardrobe to pull out a larger, but still translucent kimono. She started to change clothes right away.

"Likely, given her idea of 'fun,'" Shiki groused, moving over to the kotatsu to cover up. She turned away, glaring at the wall as though it had done something wrong. She made a mental note to find Yukari sometime, and give her a lecture about pranks—or the denizen of Hell who'd done it, on the off-chance that Yukari wasn't responsible.

The threat, however empty it may have been, still concerned her on some level. Whoever wrote it had done so whilst making some semblance of motive clear. She had a lead… but no further connection to make. Worse, its writer had the nerve—the nerve!—to even mention laying waste to Gensokyo; something that by itself could not be taken lightly under any circumstances. Further, it found its way into her sparsely-furnished abode—and the writer clearly knew her jurisdiction. The destroyed statues that were photographed… that elicited a deep pang from within her; it made her shiver just dwelling on it.

Nothing else beyond that, at least that she could glean straight away. Yet, the perpetrator _knew_ her on some level—seemingly far more than beyond the veneer of her current vocation would let on. Some part of her hoped it was a prank, and that the prankster was within easy-enough-to-access range. Or at least, wouldn't require that much exertion; she had to save her energy for that lecture after all. 

And Shiki would be damned if she let this go unpunished; prank or not, _nobody_ threatened Gensokyo and got away with it without several bruises adorning their body first. She would see to it that the prankster knew it and knew it well, even if she had to hunt them all the way to Makai to do it.

She relaxed a little more as Komachi, now clad in a similar kimono, closed the wardrobe and shifted to lay down behind her. Endowed chest met back, but past that, there was no physical contact to be had. With the shifting of the kotatsu, though, Shiki found her thoughts of bringing swift and righteous retribution onto the prankster melting away, going to sit in a dark corner to come forth another day.

"G'night boss," Komachi said, closing her eyes.

Shiki nodded, doing likewise. "Good night, Komachi," she replied. In silence, they laid, and in silence, they fell fast asleep. For Komachi, the night went by in peace.

For Shiki, however, the night decided it was time to prey upon her at her most vulnerable.


End file.
